Rejection Isn’t What You Think It Is...

Hi Reader,

Recently, I’ve experienced what most people would call a string of setbacks...

📚 Top book publishers turned down my next book.
🎤 A TEDx event I spent five months preparing for (fully written and memorized) was canceled.
🙏 I was even rejected from writing free daily devotionals!

And interestingly… that last one stung the most.

Now, you might expect that to be discouraging.

And maybe, if you’ve ever faced something similar, you can remember a time when rejection felt personal… when it made you question yourself.

I used to feel that way too.

I used to be defined by rejection, even consumed by it.
Letting it shape how I saw myself and what I believed was possible.

But something shifted and once it shifted, everything changed.

I began to realize that rejection isn’t always happening to us…
often, it’s happening for us.

Because when you really think about it…
if something isn’t aligned with what you’re truly called to step into, wouldn’t you want it removed from your life?

God sees a bigger vision for our lives than we can see for ourselves and when we aim lower than what we’re meant for, rejection becomes the very thing that protects us from settling.

It redirects.
It refines.
It releases what no longer belongs.

And when you start to see it this way, something powerful happens:

You stop resisting rejection…
and you begin to feel grateful for it.

Let me offer you another way to think about this.

Imagine, for a moment, that you are exactly 200 “no’s” away from achieving your biggest goal; let’s say $100 million.

As you picture that, notice what shifts inside you.

Would you get sad when someone tells you no?
Or would you find yourself moving forward more quickly… almost energized… knowing you’re one step closer?

That’s the difference!

Because when your mind interprets rejection as progress instead of failure, your behavior naturally changes.

🚀 You take more action.
✅ You recover faster.
🏃‍♀️ You stay in motion.

And that’s why rejection and failure begin to lose their emotional weight.

Not because they stop happening…
but because they stop meaning something negative.

You begin to trust that what is meant for you will find its way to you.
And what isn’t… will fall away, no matter how much you try to force it or control it.

There are things we can’t control in life...TEDx events, publishers, opportunities, outcomes, other people... (the list goes on forever).

But there are things you always can control:

Your mindset.
Your habits.
And the beliefs you choose to hold about yourself.

And when those are aligned, everything else starts to fall into place.

So the next time rejection shows up…

Pause.

And ask yourself:

“What if this is actually moving me forward?”

Because it is and the version of you who succeeds already knows that.

P.S. I’m not waiting for a “yes” or permission from anyone to build and neither should you. If you want to be part of the launch team for my next book 📚, reply “I’m in” and I’ll add you. What God placed in my heart, no one can take away.

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

With Gratitude,
Tara LaFon Gooch